To weed or not to weed, that is the question

The past six weeks have proven extremely difficult for a hobby
gardener.  Here in Ohio we are still having freezing nights and
cold, dreary days.  Personal and professional tragedies have kept
me visiting hospitals and funeral homes, not my garden.  When I
finally had a chance to go out there this morning, a cold, damp,
foggy morning, I just turned around and came back indoors.

Weeds.  They're everywhere in my gardens.  It's way too late to
prevent them with a pre-emergent like PREEN.  I guess there is no
other way to handle this except with a shovel, trowel, elbow
grease and a strong back.  And maybe a little glysophate
(Round-Up).  I also just cover them up with a mulch of composted
humus or straw.  That is truly the lazy gardener way.  I justify
it reminding myself that our soil is very sandy and therefore low
in nutrients.  By letting the weeds suffocate, they are returned
to the soil and improving it.

What is a weed anyway?  For my husband it's just about
everything.  For me it's grass.  Crabgrass in my garden makes me
crabby.  Rye grass in my garden has gone awry of its original
purpose.  Kentucky blue in my garden makes me blue, too.
I don't mind most of the other plants that people call "weeds."
If the birds, bees, and butterflies (and their larvae) like 'em,
so do I.  If a weed attracts beneficial insects to my garden,
they're welcome.

Keep in mind that the vast majority of insects in your yard are
beneficial or neutral and there is no reason to kill them.  Be
very careful when you do bring out the pesticide, what kills
pests can very well kill good bugs as well.  I'm not real fond of
wasps and yellow jackets, but they do eat a lot of pests.

After a run-in with a nest of angry wild bumblebees a few years
back, I'm very careful to keep an eye out for them as well.
Watch for the bumblers making nests in the ground of your garden.
My incident happened when I got too close to their nest while
checking my potato plants.  A swarm was out for revenge
immediately.  I was running, screaming and ripping off my shirt
while heading for the shelter of a nearby shed.  Luckily my hubby
was in the yard and came to my rescue.  In short order he had me
inside drinking Benedryl and covering my torso in a meat
tenderizer paste.  And then he had revenge of his own.  (Oops.
It seems I've wandered off the garden path.)

Back to weeds.  My husband, Brian, likes his flowerbeds neat and
orderly.  Flowers planted like little soldiers standing at
attention in perfect rows.  Nature doesn't make straight lines
and neither do I.  Brian plants one kind of flower in each of his
beds.  Only recently have I convinced him to mix colors.  My
garden is wild and mixed up, much like myself.  Brian pulls
everything he thinks might be a weed as soon as it appears.  I
let them grow and see what they look like.  If I like it, it
stays.  Sometimes if I don't like it, it still stays if I'm too
lazy to pull it up.

The biggest problem with my style is that if a weed goes to seed,
look out!  Brian rarely has that problem.

During the past couple of months, I've been forced to stop and
smell the roses (as well as the weeds) and reconsider what is
really important in life.  Enjoy your yard, but never be a slave
to it.  Wonder in the beauty God creates each and every day.

Even on what I normally consider a crummy day, like today.  I
look out my patio doors and see the fog lifting.  A hundred yards
back I see three deer running for the tree line.  The birds are
singing and eating at our feeders.  The daffodils and tulips
weren't killed by last night's cold weather.

Maybe I'll take another look around my garden...

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Cheryl is a Master Gardener who volunteers with the Lake County
(Ohio) Extension office of Ohio State University. She won a
Cleveland Press Club award last year for her feature and column
writing.